Felony charges against John Halacy dropped

Rensselaer County Assistant District Attorney Laura Kruegler, right, waits as John Halacy, left, enters City Court to be arraigned on misdemeanor charges for the sexual abuse of two teenage girls in Rensselaer, N.Y., on Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2013.
Mike McMahon — The Record

RENSSELAER >> What was once a mission to put a man behind bars has turned into raising awareness about his presence in the community with hopes of driving him out of town.

John Halacy, 24, was arraigned and pled not guilty to two counts of attempted rape, two counts of endangerment of a child and unlawful imprisonment, all of which are misdemeanors. Halacy originally faced several felony charges, which included second-degree rape, but those were dismissed after Rensselaer County Assistant District Attorney Laura Kruegler bungled the handling of the case by failing to obtain an indictment. The felony charges cannot be re-filed.

District Attorney Rich McNally said Kruegler was under the belief she had received a waiver to his right to a speedy trial.

Halacy was released from Rensselaer County Prison after spending nine months behind bars, which McNally said would be the maximum of time for a misdemeanor.

After Halacy walked out of Rensselaer City Court with a smirk on his face and refused to provide comment, the mother of one of the alleged victims stood across the street vowing to lead an effort in getting him to leave town. She even went as far to hope for some form of “street justice,” though added she wouldn’t want anyone to act outside of the law.

“I’m very angry,” she said. “I have violent thoughts toward him. I wish him nothing but a slow, painful death and I hope he rots in hell.”

There were very few people pleased with the case taking the path it has, including the judge presiding over the case, Kathleen Leahy Robichaud.

“This wasn’t my call,” Robichaud said on the stand regarding the case being brought back to city court. “It doesn’t make me happy.”

Halacy was forced to sign orders of protection barring him from any contact with the victims, which include a 13-year-old girl and 14-year-old girl, but the mother was still worried since he lives in the neighborhood. She even said her son has run into him at a local convenience store.

The mother said it needed to be known Halacy was released not because he was innocent but due to a technicality. She provided some of the messages on Facebook exchanged between her daughter and Halacy to The Record, which took place toward the end of January. Halacy was charged for incidents that occurred between December of last ear and February of this year.

“Maybe the I [love] you was too soon,” Halacy said in Facebook Messenger on Jan. 23. “I’m sorry I took your V, [victim’s name]. I am and I love you.”

Then more messages on Jan. 27.

“Do you want to find someone younger?” Halacy said to the victim on Messenger.

“No,” the victim responded. “You wanna find someone older?”

“No,” Halacy responded. “I’m happy where I am.”

There was still some hope Halacy could see a conviction on some of the charges he currently faces, the mother said, as she has retained attorney Steve Coffey to look and see if there were other possible charges that could be filed.

“I’m going to be talking to him more about that to see if there are any other charges we can bring up and see if there is anything that we missed,” the mother said. “We’re going to sit down because we’ve only been given a couple of days on this. We haven’t really been able to process this.”

McNally indicated his office would also be looking to to see if any of the allegations could be used in new charges, which he indicated was not an uncommon practice.

As much as the mother was upset with Halacy, a lot of her anger was also directed at the District Attorney’s Office.

McNally, who said he hadn’t found out about the mistake until this past Friday, said he took full responsibility for what happened with the case.

“I apologize to them,” McNally said. “It’s the worst part of any lawyer’s job having to explain you messed up.”

She added Kruegler attempted to apologize in court but she refused to accept the apology.

“I don’t see how anyone could have faith in our justice system,” the mother said. “Things like this will continue to happen. It was such a minor detail that let this man walk free. He doesn’t even have to register as a sex offender and that’s why we need to raised awareness.”